SARA supports SAWS bed and banks application

Updated 11:59 am, Friday, March 7, 2014

The San Antonio River Authority encourages equitable use of surface water resources to meet all the needs put upon them.

The San Antonio River Authority encourages equitable use of surface water resources to meet all the needs put upon them.

Photo: Express-News File Photo

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Suzanne Scott is general manager of the San Antonio River Authority.

Suzanne Scott is general manager of the San Antonio River Authority.

SARA supports SAWS bed and banks application

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SAN ANTONIO — As the region's population and economy continue to diversify and grow, competing uses for limited water resources are inevitable. To sustain and enrich life — human, plant and animal — within the San Antonio River Watershed, the San Antonio River Authority (SARA) promotes equitable uses of surface water resources to meet all the varying needs placed on this limited resource.

This permit application has been three decades in the making and can finally bring more certainty for downstream flows. Plus, the state application process will ensure that other water-rights permits that were issued in reliance on SAWS effluent discharges will be protected.

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The amount requested by SAWS is not arbitrary and is based on decades of data gathering and site-specific science. SARA was instrumental in getting recognition that a volume in this range was needed to meet downstream flow needs included in the 1988 City of San Antonio Regional Water Resources Plan.

SARA invests significant resources in scientific study of flows and ecosystem habitat. SARA conducted instream flow studies with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Water Development Board and TCEQ that provided the fundamental science to advance collective knowledge and understanding of the functions, seasonality and flow variability of the interconnected ecosystems within the San Antonio River Watershed.

The recommendations from these studies were the basis for the environmental flow standards for the San Antonio River adopted in 2012 by the TCEQ. The 50,000 acre-feet is an amount needed to sustain the health of the river in low-flow conditions.

Additionally, the flow standards adopted by the state recognize that our river also feeds an important bay and estuary system. SARA, as a regional entity, is entrusted with the responsibility to see that flow from the San Antonio River continues to support that ecosystem as well.

The same state process that set a desired flow regime for the river also set seasonal targets for freshwater inflow amounts for the bays and estuary. Through a regional, stakeholder-driven, scientific-based process, a majority of stakeholders supported and submitted to the state several voluntary strategies to help meet those targets.

One recommended strategy was the use of wastewater effluent discharges to meet the recommended river and bay flow needs. With the bed and banks application, SAWS has stepped up in the region with a voluntary commitment of effluent directly supporting this regional recommendation.

SARA supports the application that SAWS has filed for many reasons.

It is a science-based and stakeholder-supported initiative. And, it is more evidence that by working together we can address our competing needs for water.

SARA intervened in the lawsuit brought against the TCEQ to protect the whooping crane. Our involvement in the lawsuit is to maintain local and state control over San Antonio Bay rather than having the federal government make decisions for us.

The science clearly indicates that the whooping crane habitat is influenced by several highly complex, interrelated factors involving more than just freshwater inflows. SAWS' dedication of wastewater effluent is a demonstrated action to recognize the regional responsibility to contribute freshwater inflow to the bay and coastal estuaries to protect Texas wildlife resources, coastal fisheries and coastal economies.

We applaud SAWS for filing the bed and banks application. It is an initial action that supports the environmental flow standards set through the state mandated process and endorsed by a broad spectrum of stakeholders from this region.

Details on the permit remain to be worked through. SARA will remain actively engaged throughout the review process and will continue to advocate for the long-term sustainability of the San Antonio River Watershed from its headwaters to the bay — all of which are critical to ecological integrity, economic vitality and quality of life within the basin and state.